Boom! Another WA business goes bust

A comparison of business starts and ­finishes casts doubt over the mining boom’s benefit to Western Australia.

In WA, 2.43 per cent of businesses closed in the last financial year – a rate 31 per cent higher than the national average of 1.86 per cent, says Veda, a credit monitoring agency.

Veda’s head of commercial risk, Moses Samaha, said the greater proportion of closures in WA, with Queensland close behind, was “interesting given the speculation over the last fortnight around the end of the mining boom".

WA’s lower levels of business starts were another reflection of a changing outlook on the “prosperity of the mining boom", Mr Samaha said. “People may be opening their eyes and thinking twice about [going into business]."

But it’s not all doom and gloom. The first Startup Weekend Perth –this weekend – has been sold out for a month. On Friday night, 100 participants will begin pitching ideas, then form teams to put together a business prototype by Sunday afternoon.

Mr Macfarlane said “brain drain" used to be a problem for WA but the local start-up ecosystem had benefited from co-working hub Spacecubed and regular meet-ups.

This activity was motivating and supporting highly skilled graduates to be entrepreneurial. “These are very intelligent, motivated people who are staying in Perth and developing their own businesses," Mr Macfarlane said.